AWE NEWS April/May 2011 The Student Newspaper of Andover’s West Elementary School

Ice Cream Social Fun Bash West El wins the Spelling Bee By Taylor Bata Drawing by Amanda Smith Spirit Award Story and photos by Katherine Morris The ice cream social was so much fun! I did two surveys. One was for and Vanessa Pierni teachers’ favorite ice cream. The results At the spelling bee it was very were chocolate. The other survey was fun. Some of the kids in the for kids’ favorite thing at the ice cream audience got to fill out social. It was the ice cream. Who knew! "audience spelling bees". This is a sheet where you are given I hope you could join in on the fun! words and you must spell them. The winner was Henry GIlbert. It was cool to be there. At the end of the second round, when West was up they got the word wrong, but then the other team did too! The next word they got right and the other team did not. WINNERS! It was very exciting. West also won the spirit award. :) In the end Andover High School won the whole tournament.

Final Fun Fest on April 1 By Vanaja Chavva

It’s April fool’s Day! The best Friday Fun Fest ever. Tons of people had lots of fun. There were so many things to do. We were able to go play games on the smart board, play games in the gym like fishy fishy cross my ocean, and had arts and crafts. The pizza and the ice cream were delicious. The movie we watched, Despicable Me, was the best movie that I ever watched. It was so funny and made me laugh all the time. Overall, it was the best time I had ever had at a Friday Fun fest! Enrichment

Third grade visits the Andover The Days of Paul Revere Historical Society By Taylor Bata Photos by Danny Cronin By Emma Accardi and Lauren Fraser A Paul Revere House staff member At the History Society today my class had a lot of fun! I was recently visited the 3rd graders. They came into each of our 3rd grade with my mom, Allison, Armaan and Alex. I had to wear an classrooms. The staff member had a apron. One of my favorite things there was a gold dress. I love slide show that taught facts about Paul it there. Some day you should go with your family. --Emma Revere. Accardi Each person in the classroom got to participate in a play-acting out Paul The third grade had a great field trip to the Andover Revere’s life. There were fun costumes Historical Society. We learned about life in Old Andover for us all to wear. during the 1820s. Amos Blanchard built the house that is the A fun fact we learned was that Paul home of the Historical Society. The house is very different Revere never said, “the British are from homes now. The house had a well for water in the coming!” He actually said, “The basement, candles for lights and no television, microwave regulars are marching!” oven, computer or cell phones! We saw how they printed Because, at that time, America newspapers and books. We even used an old printing press! was considered to still be part Most of the food came from Andover farms and the spices of Britain. It would just like came from the Spice Islands (Hawaii). screaming down the halls of We visited an old store, and learned about how they traded West “the Americans are items for what they needed, bartering, and used credit by coming!” Another fun fact is that if Paul writing their name in a book. Revere was still alive, he would We also learned how they put out a fire by passing buckets of be about 330 years old. And water down a line. We found out how hard this is to do! It that’s really old! was so much fun, you should visit the Historical Society too! --Lauren Fraser Techsploration..Structures Mr. Wahle from Techsploration By Brooke Ferris visited us and showed us simple Today we saw Tom Wahle. He talked about structures. He was really funny. He used volunteers. He showed machines us all kinds of beams. He showed us all kinds of clapper bridges. How showed us how to build a By Tanya Singh and Julia Washburn bridge. I helped, too...it was so fun! He was trying to make a trust bridge with balloons and they kept Mr. Wahle came to some of the grades and taught us all popping. His little friend tried bungee jumping about different science stuff. Mr. Wahle is a scientist! He and...plop!...he fell in. Cailin stood on a board and it taught some of the grades abut engineering and structures! didn’t fall. Then, he tried it and he didn’t fall. We went to two shows! It was so interesting! He made the Ava said, “I like everything we talked about science show so fun to watch! After one show my class went to the but he made it more fun. I hope he comes back next music room and did engineering with some cars Mr. Wahle year or sooner. He was really smart and funny.” made. We saw that with different size pulleys and other Emma said, “I think that other people, including me, enjoyed it a lot. He made it more fun even though it methods the car would go really slow or really fast. After we was science. I also like the volunteers that he picked.” did that he showed us a video of pumpkin launching and a Vanessa said, “I liked him because the structures he pumpkin race! Talk about fun! Mr. Wahle is so funny and he built he could let people go on them. He was really is very smart! Move over Einstein here comes Wahle! funny and that made it a good show.” Claire said, “I liked him because he did stuff that could’ve broke. When he went on the eggs everybody thought it was going to collapse. It was funny when Martin and Aidan didn’t fall but Martin did.” Theme Day

Tootsie Wootsies School Spirit Day Story and photos by Ava Kirkpatrick By Haywood Schwartz and and Lilly Reeves Max Tweedale Our theme is Tootsie Photo by Haywood Schwartz day. We all dressed up On April 6 it was as Tootsie Rolls. There CRAZY! were all sorts of crazy, “Haywood funky outfits. But the dressed up like a sad thing is our teacher girl,” said Becky. wasn’t there! We got the Haywood idea because Mrs. Coltin responded, “Do gives out tootsies. Some people thought it would be you have a difficult but then problem with we thought it that?” was a good idea. Mr. A’s class had one person dressed up like a girl. It Since Mrs. was Haywood. He wore his sister’s skirt and shirt. Coltin wasn’t He also had a blonde wig. Haywood liked being a girl here we had a for a day, but prefers to be a boy. The other kids did a substitute. It West El spirit theme. Negar dressed up like a boy. We was Mrs. Kelley didn’t have a special celebration. Mr. A didn’t dress aka Mrs. up because he’s done this theme day a thousand Tootsie. times before.

PJ and Switch Day Inside Out Day By Jerry Caruso By Cailin Cronin Photo by Ryan Cook Photo by Jane Campbell On Wednesday, Our theme day April 6th, Miss was fun! The Little’s third grade theme we came class had a up with in our combination of classroom was “Switch and P.J.” inside-out day day. David Blanco and backwards did switch day. He day. The reason wore a wig and all we came up with girly stuff. Some this theme was students and our that it was fun teacher, Miss Little, wore their pajamas. The and creative. When we came in on theme day, funniest costume was David’s. The best pj’s were everyone in my class had their clothes inside-out and Marketa’s. She had flowery pajamas. Student backwards! The strangest part was when we were Council gave our class an award for Best PJs and walking around with our pants on backwards. It felt Prettiest Boys and Toughest Girls. At the end of even weirder to sit down with them on backwards! the day, a class photo was taken with everyone in Inside-out and backwards day was great! their costumes or pajamas. It was an awesome theme day for Miss Little’s class! Theme Day

Sports Day Red Sox Day at West By Michael Branscombe Story and drawing by Emma Kelley Photo by David Tverskoy Take me out to the ball game, When a Take me out to the theme day at crowd. West Buy me some peanuts Elementary and Cracker Jack, School comes I don’t care if I never get back, around, no Let me root, root, root one wants to for the home team, miss it. This (although most of us theme day sang root, root, root was create for the Red Sox) If they don’t win it’s a shame. your own theme day. Some are so wacky like For it’s one, two, three strikes, you’re out, crazy hair day. Mrs. Gerroir’s theme was At the old ball game. sports. Some are Red Sox, some are Patriots...you name it, that jersey was worn in That song was sung in almost every class on opening Mrs. Gerroir’s third grade class! day for the Red Sox on April 8, 2011. West was full of I’ve also seen some very goofy ones like boys baseball spirit with almost everyone dressed in red, white and blue. Kids and teachers had Red Sox t-shirts, dressing up as girls and girls dressing up as sweatshirts and baseball caps. Some students even had boys. Red Sox tattoos and face paintings. At lunch, some kids brought peanuts and boxes of Cracker Jacks. Curious George came for WERAWC. We hoped Wally would come to West but he must have been too busy that day. Superhero Day I think West brought the Red Sox good luck. With all Story and photo by Eryn Trant our cheers West helped the team get their first victory.

Mrs. Cullen’s 2nd grade Movie Review class’ theme day was Super Hero day. Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick Rules Everyone dressed up as By Mara Belansky a super hero including Mrs. What was the movie about? Cullen! We It was about a kid named Greg and had Super his older brother Rodrick. Rodrick is Teacher, Cool Guy, Super Baby, Butterfly Girl, told to spend more time with Greg. Wonder Woman, and Amazing Eryn to name just a And give him some 7th grade advice. few heroes in our class today. The class even wrote What was Katie’s favorite part? stories about how their superhero would make the Katie’s favorite part was the end. world a better place. All the superheroes had a Greg was very generous and nice. super day! What is your favorite character? Holly. She is the girl Greg has a crush on. If you want to know more, read the book. Or see the movie. Sports

Baseball Tennis Story and photo by Cale Flatley By David Tverskoy In the beginning of Andover’s Department of Community Services April tennis fans (DCS) has a pre-season gathered in Monte baseball program. this Carlo to watch Monte year, I decided to try out Carlo Rolex Masters the program before Little Tennis Tournament. League started. Coach All the top10 tennis Mike Fay runs the players, but Novak program and helps Djokovic entered the players get better tournament. This through drills and also Coach Fay short games. tournament is played I had an email interview with Coach Fay. He told me he on clay courts. The tournament prize money was started coaching when he was 17. He said he coaches six 2,227,500 euros. Fans were surprised that #3 seed Roger other sports: football, basketball, hockey, lacrosse, tennis Federer lost to #17 seed Jurgen Melzer in the quarterfinals. and soccer. The final was the rivalry of the 2 top Spaniards #1 seed I asked him who the best baseball player ever was, and he Rafael Nadal and #6 seed David Ferrer. Rafael Nadal won said Carl Yastrzemski! Coach Fay said, “He was my the final, dominating Ferrer with the score 6:4 6:4. This childhood hero. I loved Yaz, everyone did. He helped the Red was Nadal's 6th straight title proving that he is the King of Sox win the 1967 American League pennant! He also won the Clay indeed. the Triple Crown that year, which means he led the league with 44 home runs, 121 RBIs and had a batting average of . 326! I think those were his numbers. He was so exciting to watch and he won so many games with his bat, his arm and his glove!” Soccer Coach Fay thinks the Red Sox will win the World Series this By Emma Kindlan and Ashley Smith year! I asked Coach Fay if he thought it was okay to be friends with a Yankees fan. He said, “Yes, of course. They’re my second favorite team. I love watching Red Sox-Yankees games.” CoachFay told me to keep up the good work both on and off the field.

Lacrosse By Lilly Reeves

It's lacrosse season and a lot of people play lacrosse! I'm going to Photo by Emma Kindlan tell you a little bit about the game. The equipment is different for girls What do you like about soccer? and boys. First you need a stick Brooke I like soccer because I get to score goals. with a net. Boy sticks have bigger pockets. You also need a What is your favorite number for soccer? mouthguard in case you get hit in Jenna Four the mouth with a ball. Lacrosse balls are really hard. Boys wear Nicole, a 6th grader who used to go to West, said her helmets and have gloves. Girls favorite sport is soccer. only wear face masks. What you want to do is score by throwing What soccer team are you on? the ball into the net. I play Maya Sunflowers lacrosse. It's a really fun sport. Do you like to play offense of defense? Sofie, a first grader, said defense. Happy Spring! By Lauren Fraser

By Danny Cronin

Bob and the Ocean Times By Mara Belansky, Vanessa Pierni and Lilly Reeves Travel Disney World April Vacation Story and photos by Amanda Morin By Nikhil Gorur Disney World is a magical place April vacation is a lot of fun. where dreams I got to play Wii, watch movies and run. come true. There Wii Sports Resort was fun to play. are seven parks in I played it almost every day. Disney. Far too Gods Must Be Crazy was a cool movie. many to go to in only one trip. On I liked it because it was funny and groovy. the first day we I went to my cousin’s house for a play went to Epcot. My date. favorite ride in I came back home very, very late. Epcot was Soarin. It was so fun. The second day I went April vacation was a lot of fun. to Animal Kingdom. I saw lots of animals. The third day I I wish there was more but now it’s done! saw the morning parade and the nighttime parade. I was so tired I fell asleep on my dad’s back. The fourth day I was at Blizzard Beach. My favorite ride was Lazy River. It was pretty relaxing to me. I loved that awesome really, really fun trip!

Drawing by Nikhil Gorur

Washington, DC By Yuting Shi

Washington DC was awesome and so was the view. It took a long time to get there though but it was fun. I went with my friend, Emily, and we stayed together in a hotel. We went inside the White House, the Capitol building and the Washington Monument and we saw the Lincoln Memorial. We went to the Smithsonian museum and it was amazing and cool. On the last day, we first toured the White House, then we went to the visitor center and got free souvenirs to keep. Then we went back home. The trip was from 10:47 am to 12:02 am and the trip was over.

The Capitol Washington Monument Travel

HAWAI’I By Armaan Vasowalla New York City By Max Tweedale Over April vacation I Pearl Harbor went to New York City. It water falls was a lot of fun. I went to snorkeling the High Line park on Friday.The Diamond Head High Line is The High Line a railroad track that turned into a park where you could walk Dole around and relax on benches. After that we went to lizards a diner for dinner. The food was delicious. For dessert, we went to Chelsea Market for ice cream. sea turtles The next day, we went to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space museum. We looked at a lot of planes from World War II. After that, we went in a submarine. luau The last thing we saw at the museum was the beach Concorde plane. The Concorde plane could go faster than the speed of sound. It could fly from New York to London in about two hours and thirty minutes. For lunch, we went to Two Boots, my favorite macadamia nut factory restaurant. I had a calzone. volcano I’d definitely dolphins recommend that you visit New York legends City if you 'Ukulele haven’t been British Airways Concorde to the High Line or Intrepid museum.

Maryland Story and drawing by Puloma Bishnu

Have you ever been to Maryland? If you haven’t, there are a lot of fascinating things to see. You can see the White House from Maryland. There’s a restaurant called 208 Talbot and it has a wine bar in it. The cuisine type is American. There are a lot of places to see, stay and eat. Interviews

Chloe Aguilar and Paige Tubinis Alfonso Morell spoke with his spoke with the blonde and teacher, Mrs. Dufton glamorous Mrs. Walker Photo by Nolan Howard This is a story about Mrs. Beth Photo by Jane Campbell Dufton. Mrs. Dufton is my second grade teacher. Mrs. Favorites Dufton went to Wheelock song America Teacher’s College for four years instrument the voice and then went back for three play Free to Be You and Me more years for her Masters color obviously, green degree. She taught first grade, candy fudge third grade and fifth grade and thing to do when you were now is teaching second grade. a kid go to plays She has taught second grade for thing about being a music teacher I get to hear five years. The total amount of teaching first, second, third, children sing. and fifth grade is twenty-two years. Mrs. Dufton wanted to Where were you born? St. Louis, Missouri be a teacher because she likes to watch kids learn and she was inspired to be a teacher because she liked to work with Would you rather kiss a frog or be a frog? kiss a kids. A funny story about Mrs. Dufton was when she was frog teaching 3rd grade she had a classroom chameleon that What do you like to do in your spare time? escaped. Mrs. Dufton remembers writing book reports when travel she was in second grade. The greatest moments Mrs. Dufton ever had while teaching were watching each class graduate. That was our interview with Mrs. Walker! We When asked how she could teach twenty-two kids at a time, love you Mrs. Walker! she said, “Practice and routine”.

Mrs. Roos By Becky Winters Photo by Alfonso Morell

Were you an assistant principal before movie The Sound of Music you became principal? Yes, I was for 13 book Harriet the Spy years. color royal blue Were you a teacher before you were thing to do kayaking with my family principal? Yes, I taught 2nd,5th, and 6th sport rowing and kayaking grade. theme day at school Nurse B. Day last year How did you get hired at West? I had a big What’s your favorite part of the school interview with ten people. year? WERAWC When did you get hired at West? 1995, What’s your favorite thing about when I was 21 years old. WERAWC? meeting the performers What other jobs did you have at West? 6th How do you get authors and illustrators grade, 5th grade, assistant principal to come to WERAWC? We send scouts to SOME FAVORITES other schools or artist festivals to preview animal whale future performances. food lobster with hot butter Interviews Mrs. McCarron Ms. Spinale By Taylor Bata By Richard Li Photo by Nolan Howard Photo by Mara Belansky What is your favorite color? Mrs. McCarron is a Blue kindergarten teacher here What’s your favorite food? at West. She has been teaching at West several Italian years. Dessert? Anything chocolate What is your favorite hobby? What is your favorite color? Green Exercising outdoors in warm What is your favorite weather sport? Baseball When did you become an What is your favorite assistant principal? Three thing you did last summer? I spent seven peaceful nights and eight years ago...July 2008 glorious days in the Grand Canyon National Park on a What do you do during your spare time? I spend time with my whitewater rafting trip with my daughter, husband and 35 family. other people from around the world, camping along the Colorado River in the wilderness, sleeping under the stars Do you have any kids? No. and experiencing adventures of a lifetime each day with Would you like being anything else besides an assistant hikes, excursions, learning history about the Grand principal? A meteorologist Canyon, and meeting so many wonderful new people who were on our trip. What is your favorite book? To Kill a Mockingbird What is your favorite thing to do in your class? Read What is your favorite place? Italy stories aloud and watch my students learn and grow every day as individuals and as a whole-class family group! What is your favorite subject to teach? Kindergarten math! Mrs. Coltin What is your favorite part of being a kindergarten teacher? I love how five and six year old children see the By Mackenzie Rose world and people around them, how excited kindergarteners are to learn every day, playing my guitar Photo by Ava Kirkpatrick and having the kids think I'm actually GOOD at it, and being able to be the first teacher to teach children who Have you always wanted to are (mostly) in their very first year of their public school be a teacher since you were life! little? I have always wanted to be a This is Mrs. McCarron’s first interview and I thought she teacher since I was a little girl. I sounded like a fun and creative teacher! I am glad my use to play school with my dolls. brother is in her class this year! How long have you been teaching and in what grades have you taught? I have taught for a long time and Interview with 3rd grader mostly every grade. What do you do during your Nick Criniti free time on the weekends? I like to do active things like bike By Jerry Caruso rides and film festivals. I also like to get together with friends to eat Nick Criniti likes sports. He likes basketball, hockey, good food. What was your favorite subject in school? Art was my lacrosse but his favorite is baseball. He likes baseball favorite subject. because it gets him fit and it is fun for kids. His dad and What is your favorite food? Maine lobster is my favorite the Red Sox inspired him to play baseball. Nick’s dad used food. to play baseball and his mom was a cheerleader. Two of his What is the best vacation you ever had? The best vacation cousins play hockey as well. He subscribes to Sports I had was my visit to Argentina. Illustrated Kids and loves it! His favorite teams are the Red Sox, Celtics, Patriots and the Bruins. For sports video games, he plays 2011 NHL and 2011 MLB. His teacher, Miss Little, like the Kentucky Wildcats. He likes to play baseball with his dad and plays volleyball with his mom. Well, you heard it here, Nick Criniti likes sports! Interviews Matthew Devaney and Amanda Sydney Berry and Abigail Layman Morin spoke with Mr. Larry, Mrs. McDermott and Ms. Macinnis spoke with Mr. I Photo by Nolan Howard What was your favorite April Fool’s trick? Mr. I has two siblings. One sister Ms. Macinnis When her parents went on vacation, she put a and one brother. His favorite fake For Sale sign up. color is blue. He has a blue Mrs. McDermott Her dad said there was no school because phone, blue eyes and even a blue there was a snow day. watch. Mr. Larry Telling Mrs. Blygh there was no school that day. His favorite sports are track and What did you do on April vacation? field, football and volleyball. Mr. Larry I was in bed with Lyme disease and poison ivy. He has been a gym teacher Ms. Macinnis I went to Turks and Caicos. since 1968. He has also taught Mrs. McDermott I went to a museum with Mrs. Wrobel. p.e. to eight different schools What did you do for Easter? counting West El. He has been Mrs. McDermott I had my family over for dinner. teaching at West El for over 39 Mr. Larry I went to my in law’s for lunch. years. Ms. Macinnis I took my puppy for a long walk and made He has one daughter that is 28 shrimp scampi for dinner. and one son that is 22. Also, he has two grandchildren who are six years old and seven months old. What is your favorite subject? Ms. Macinnis My favorite subject besides P.E. is science. Mrs. McDermott My favorite subject besides library is art. My favorite book is Scaredy Squirrel. Mr. Larry I liked science. Photo by Ryan Cook Photo by Eryn Trant

Spring Word Search By Max Tweedale spring showers March April flowers sunshine grass birds umbrella thaw baseball soccer lacrosse

Answers on back......